Anniversary
by ALargeBear
Summary: The evening would go off without a hitch, Maki made sure of it.


The evening would go off without a hitch, Maki made sure of it.

Reservations made at the high-class restaurant her parents recommended, the house would be empty when they got back, and the gift she handpicked tucked away securely in her jacket pocket. They'd catch the train to the restaurant, have a nice and intimate dinner, then come back and spend the rest of the night bundled up on the couch together. It was planned down to the very minute, not a second would be out of place.

A knock on the door and Maki took one final look down at her phone. Seven o'clock, surprisingly right on time. A deep breath, a shake of the head, and a quick twirl of her hair was the best she could to bring some calm. Her hand shuddered as it reached for the knob, one last self-reassuring thought, and she swung open the door.

"Happy anniversary, Maki!"

There wasn't time to react. Maki was nearly toppled as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and an orange head of hair crashed into her chest.

"You're going to knock me over." Maki pushed Rin away, still standing in the entryway. "Calm down."

"How can I calm down on a day like this." Rin pulled back, standing with a nondescript brown bag in her hand and smile on her face. "It's our first anniversary."

"I'm aware of that." Maki took a second to recompose herself before looking Rin up and down. Sneakers, jeans, and a hoodie were not part of the before made plans. "Didn't I tell you to wear something nice tonight. The restaurant we're going to is a pretty fancy place, you know?"

"About that." Rin chuckled, looking away from one of Maki's more invasive glares. "I looked the place up on the internet yesterday."

Maki sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Then I'm sure you saw what type of place it was."

"It looked fancy and boring. All the pictures were of these rich old people." Rin kept going before an irritated Maki could cut in. "I couldn't even pronounce a bunch of stuff on the menu."

"There's nothing we can do about that now. I've already made the reservations." Maki reached for her phone again, making sure they still had enough time to keep things on track. "If we go now we can still make it."

Rin reached out, snatching Maki's phone out her hand. With a flick of the ankle, she kicked her shoes off and barged her way past Maki, dialing some number.

"Now's not the time for this, Rin." Maki followed, reaching out for her phone but missing each time. "Give me my phone back, and put your shoes on."

"Nope." Rin ducked out of reach of Maki's grasp. She put the phone to her ear. "Hi, I'd like to order a pizza please."

Maki felt her well laid plan slipping further and further through her fingers each time Rin evaded her. It was supposed to be the perfect evening planned down the exact time and place. How could Rin be happy eating cheap delivery pizza on their first anniversary? The first major milestone in a relationship that Maki never wanted to cherish as much as she came to. All those silly few month anniversaries felt so dumb in retrospect, and those carefully laid plans to make it perfect were shattering before her eyes.

Maki took one last lunge at her phone, missing again. With a final disappointed huff, she gave up in chasing, letting Rin put the last nail in the coffin of her meticulously planned evening.

Rin finished the order with the same broad smile from before and the brown bag still in hand. She handed Maki's phone back as if they hadn't been chasing one another down the hall. "They said it'll be here in thirty minutes."

"Whatever." Maki let some disappointment bubble to the surface and into her voice. Not anger, she could never get angry at Rin's goofy and radiant smile, but frustration was another thing entirely.

"I got extra sauce like you usually get." Rin's smile still held, but her eyes shimmered with a glimpse of regret. "Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad." Maki held back the bite to her words, her shoulders going slack and eyes looking down at the floor. "It's just that, I had this whole night planned because I wanted it to be special for us. I always thought that's what people did on their anniversaries. Now we're going to be eating some cheap pizza alone in an empty house."

"But I think spending time alone with you is more special than eating at some fancy restaurant," Rin said in the sweetest voice without even batting an eye.

Maki tried to read some form of disappointment on Rin's face, but those eyes and that smile were as earnest as always. Maki blushed, never knowing how to deal with blunt affection hurled without a hint of expectation.

Rin didn't wait for an answer, taking one of Maki's hand into her own and guiding her toward the large living room. "I want to just cuddle up on the couch and watch movies with you. So that's what we're going to do."

Maki complied, allowing herself to be thrown onto the large white sofa. The frustrations still bubbled up in her stomach, but when Rin sat shoulder to shoulder and wiggled in close, she knew they weren't worth voicing.

"Since the pizza's not going to be here for a while," Rin said, setting the large brown bag on the coffee table in front of them. 'Let's give each other our gifts."

"If you want to, I guess we can." Maki felt her jacket pocket, gift still in place giving a false confidence. "I'll go first."

Sliding her hand into the pocket, Maki the box's velvety surface. Her hand trembled as she grabbed hold and pulled the gift out. Heart beating harder than she'd felt since that first confession, and looking at Rin's expectant face didn't do her any favors. No words. Maki held out her hand ushering Rin to take the moderately sized black box from her hand. Her dry mouth stopping her as much as the trembling of her lips.

Rin's smile went from exuberance to a much more subdued joy as she took the box from Maki's hands. "Can I open it?"

"What else do you do with a gift?" Maki's nerves weren't enough to hold back her harder to kill habits.

Running a hand over the felt surface, Rin flipped the small box open. "This is so pretty. I love it, Maki."

The necklace was simple, but far from inelegant. A gold-colored chain held a bright yellow-orange gemstone accented with bits of shimmering silver. Maki tried to get a read on Rin's face, but it was so subdued and contained that she couldn't.

"I've never seen something this color before." Rin held the necklace up to her face, inspecting the gem at the bottom.

"The gem is called citrine, and I thought it would look nice on you." Maki had to look away, the heat from her cheeks making it to hard to focus. "Do you like it?"

"I love it." Rin placed the necklace back in its box before and back on the table before wrapping her arms around Maki's shoulders. "But do you really think I'm pretty enough for something like that? I've never worn necklaces or stuff like that."

Maki was forced to look back at Rin. "I think you'd look great with it on. Why else would I pick it out for you?"

"You're right. Thank you." Rin placed a quick kiss to Maki's lips as she unlatched, reaching over for her bag and stuffing it into Maki's arms. "Now it's my turn. I had some help from Kayo-chin so I could make sure it's perfect."

Maki smiled. Rin looked more like a dog as she sat so expectantly, eyes and grin big. Reaching inside the bag, Maki pulled out a hand decorated book. The cover was a simple red with orange lettering across the top reading 'Maki and Rin' in sloppy handwriting. A picture in the middle that Maki knew was from their first date, standing together outside some ramen shop Rin had to take her to.

"Open it. Open it." Rin pushed herself closer into Maki's side and put her head on the girl's shoulder.

Following instructions, and fighting off the urge to snuggle in closer, Maki flipped open the book. Page after page decorated with hand cut stars taped to the page, and sweet I love yous written anywhere they could be. The bulk of each page littered with photos and mementos stretching back to before they'd started dating. A group shot with Hanayo on the school roof, an embarrassing shot of Rin rubbing her cheek into Maki's, and their first kiss that was slyly captured by Nozomi. As she flipped through, Maki found it harder to focus as emotions took hold. The last decorated page was somewhere in the middle of the book, a final picture of the entirety of Muse together with Rin's hand in her own.

"Is that all there is." Maki's voice cracked as she flipped through the rest of the empty pages.

"You see." Rin chuckled as if she had been caught doing something bad by a teacher. "I didn't have enough pictures to fill out the entire book, and I didn't notice until I ran out. So, I guess it's only half finished. But Kayo-chin had a great idea."

"And what's that?" Maki tried to blink back her clouding vision, but it wasn't much use.

"She said that we should fill the next half out on our own." Rin picked her head from Maki's shoulder and looked her face to face. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

Maki nodded, wanting to look away and hide the embarrassment of the tears on her cheeks, but she wasn't given time to as Rin leaned for a kiss.


End file.
